hi, can someone explain me step by step, so that even i could understand, how oil is formed? i read wiki entry and i dont understand nothing. if there is any good, patient geologist here please, stage is yours. you can began with "Earth was formed... thanx in advance
Really? Step by step starting from the formation of earth to oil? If you "don't understand nothing" from wiki then I think you need to take an earth science course (check your local community college), you are not going to get any decent level of detail in a forum.
one smart man said if you cant explain it simply you dont understand it. if you ask similar question about science im familiar with i could do what i have been asking here. simple explanation. maybe a small timeline.
Welcome to sciforums. Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae.[46] Vast quantities of these remains settled to sea or lake bottoms, mixing with sediments and being buried under anoxic conditions. As further layers settled to the sea or lake bed, intense heat and pressure build up in the lower regions. This process caused the organic matter to change, first into a waxy material known as kerogen, which is found in various oil shales around the world, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons via a process known as catagenesis. Formation of petroleum occurs from hydrocarbon pyrolysis in a variety of mainly endothermic reactions at high temperature and/or pressure.[47] There were certain warm nutrient-rich environments such as the Gulf of Mexico and the ancient Tethys Sea where the large amounts of organic material falling to the ocean floor exceeded the rate at which it could decompose. This resulted in large masses of organic material being buried under subsequent deposits such as shale formed from mud. This massive organic deposit later became heated and transformed under pressure into oil.[48] Geologists often refer to the temperature range in which oil forms as an "oil window"[49]—below the minimum temperature oil remains trapped in the form of kerogen, and above the maximum temperature the oil is converted to natural gas through the process of thermal cracking. Sometimes, oil formed at extreme depths may migrate and become trapped at a much shallower level. The Athabasca Oil Sands are one example of this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum Next time do your own research.
Coal is also a fossil fuel. Most of it was formed during the Carboniferous Era, 360-300MYA. Trees had developed lignin, which made them sturdy and difficult to decompose even when dead--no organism had evolved an enzyme to break down lignin. As a result, dead trees just lay there on the ground, until weather and geological forces covered them with soil. Under pressure they were compressed into coal. In rare cases they lay on the ground for so long that water (one of the strongest forces on earth) ever-so-slowly flushed out the organic compounds and replaced them with minerals; in other words, they were fossilized. There is an enormous tract of fossilized dead trees lying on the ground in northern Arizona, named the Petrified Forest. It's a pretty spooky place! But at the end of the Carboniferous Era, one of the most humble organisms on earth, the mushroom, did indeed finally evolve lignase, the enzyme that can break down and digest lignin. From this point on, forest floors were no longer cluttered with piles of dead trees waiting to be compressed into coal. Walk through any forest and you'll see the dead trees absolutely covered with mushrooms! There will probably never again be coal deposits on this planet. When we use up what we've got, that's it!
This sounds like a good idea for a 007 film. Another super villain, just as always suave and debonair, develops weaponized lignase and threatens to 'eat away' the world's coal supply. Hell, since it's only a cheesy film franchise, let's say WLW (weaponized lignase weapons - I'll have to work on that name) also consumes oil and natural gas. Somehow it transpires that only a certain black-haired British secret agent (who has blonde hair and is world famous despite his secret agency) can save the day by spending time in a Monte Carlo casino, a Brazilian barrio and that place in Thailand with the tall lumpy islands - where he has no choice but to blow the super villain's headquarters to smithereens in order to rescue the sexy Russian secret agent who hated him up until then, but has had sex several times with him anyway - because she can't resists black-haired men with blonde hair! The name of this movie? Coal Fungi Coal Fun Guy! He's the man, the man with the fungal touch A mushroom's touch Such a coal finger Beckons you to enter his mine of sin But don't go in Moldy words he will pour in your ear But his lies can't disguise what you fear For a coal miner knows when he's kissed him It's the kiss of death From Mister Coal Fun Guy Coal miners, beware of his heart of mold His heart is mold He really hates coal Only coal Only coal
That was great fun, you're very creative! I'll write the music for the score. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
One consideration about fossil fuel is connected to the Miller Experiment, which attempted to simulate ancient earth conditions to form the precursors of life, using simple gases and electric charge; lightning. Bitumen was a common experimental product. These results suggest the precursors of fossil fuel were around before life and fossils. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No, the conditions of the Carboniferous have absolutely nothing to do with the Miller experiment. But try telling that to a very poorly written conversation bot. And with a write-only memory to boot.
